Rama Krishna Sangem
Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy has finally released jRs 200 crore out of the total Rs 10,000 crore dues to the private higher educational institutions in the state. Orders to release the amount were issued on October 1, a day before Dasara festival. These dues are part of the scheme to reimburse tuition fees (RTF) of students studying in these colleges. The colleges include from the degree, PG, engineering, pharmacy, nursing and educational institutions.
However, the Federation of Telangana Higher Educational Institutions (FATHI) which spearheaded a two months long agitation for getting the RTF dues from the government is not satisfied with the amount. FATHI which launched a shut down of their close to 2,000 colleges across the state from September 15 has agreed to call off the stir on the same day on a promise made by Deputy CM Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka and other ministers that the dues to an extent of Rs 1,200 crore would be cleared within a month.
As per the assurance, Rs 600 crore were to released by Dasara festival and another Rs 600 crore by Deepavali, October 19. Bur, the government just released only Rs 200 crore, which is around 33 per cent of the fist installment. “This is meager amount when compared to our total dues of Rs 10,000 crore,” said FATHI chairman Dr Ramesh Babu Nimmatoori, while addressing a press conference on Wednesday afternoon. He chaired a meeting of FATHI members earlier in the day.
Agitation again from October 13
The FATHI members have decided to re-start agitation for securing the remaining dues from October 13 onward. The college managements have decided to take along the parents and students of their institutions in this agitational programme. “This is not just the problem of the private college managements, but also that of lakhs of students and parents. Besides, tens of thousands of teaching and non-teaching staff too have been suffering because of the delay in release of RTF dues,” said Dr Ramesh.
The FATHI has urged the CM to address the issue as it pertains to lakhs of poor and rural students and announce a road-map to solve the pending dues issue at the earliest. FATHI executive members KS Ravi Kumar, Dr K Ramadas, Kodali Krishna Rao, Susheel Kumar, M Jaipal Reddy, Nagaiah Chowdary, Aljapur Srinivas and Suryanarayana Reddy too were present in the deliberations.
